Archive for February, 2010

• Booking contact: Adam Bergeron
• How to Introduce Yourself: Fill out the web form on The Crepe Place website. Do NOT call. Do not drop off a hard copy CD/demo.
• Timing: The Crepe Place books about 3 months in advance.
• Days: Live music booked almost every day of the week.
• Genres: Indie rock, country, folk, funk
• Capacity: 100
• Payment: Typically The Crepe Place splits show proceeds 70/30 with the band. The venues 30% is used to cover the door and the sound engineer.
• Equipment: The Crepe Place provides standard venue equipment including PA, monitors, mics/stands, DI boxes. The band is responsible for bringing their guitar and bass amps.• Food: As a courtesy The Crepe Place feeds the band and provides drink tickets.

*Helpful Hint*
When your set is over, don’t hop off the stage and hit the bar, make sure you break down and clear the stage for the next band that needs to set up.

Booking Guidelines:

Pick the Right Venue. Visit The Crepe Place before you send a booking inquiry. Notice the type of music being played; notice the type of crowd that is coming out for the show. Recognize that The Crepe Place is a restaurant that also does live music. It is important for The Crepe Place to keep ALL of their customers happy, those coming out to a show in the front of the house, and those having dinner in the back of the house. If you are an ear bleeding death metal band, be realistic about the fact that this is not the right venue for you. Trying to force a square peg into a round hole doesn’t help anyone and can just be a waste of time for all involved.

Understand the business. The Crepe Place, like all venues, can only operate if they make money. It is very easy for a venue to lose money on a show. Before you send a booking request, you need to be confident that your band can draw at least 50-75 people out to the show on a weeknight night. Playing to an empty room hurts everyone. The venue loses money, you lose respect and it will be nearly impossible to book another show at the venue again.

Give the venue what they want. Adam appreciates when band inquiries are concise but specific. Make sure to always include your band name, the date you want to book and a link to hear your music. Instead of the generic “Booking” or “We Want to Play the Crepe Place” subject line, instead try “Band Name – Date You Want to Play – Descriptive Term”. Think your correspondence through.

Package Yourself. If you know that a typical night at The Crepe Place includes 2-3 bands, pitch your own package. Think about bands you have played with before or that you share friend groups with. A perfect scenario is 2-3 like-minded, but still unique bands on the same bill. Remember some basic band etiquette, if you on the bill with other bands, don’t bail after your set and take all your friends with you, stay and support the other bands.

Promote. Everyone wants a show to succeed and one way to help make that happen is to promote the show locally. When you send a booking inquiry to The Crepe Place let Adam know what you will do to promote the show – be specific.

If you have done all of this and you don’t hear back from Adam, please don’t take it personally. The reality is that not everyone gets a show. It doesn’t mean your band is not great or that you should stop trying to build your career, but there are only so many days in each month.

The Crepe Place books not only local bands, but touring regional and national acts as well.

A big thank you to everyone who came out for our grand opening celebration this weekend. The music of the Western Skylarks was the perfect complement to the beer provided by Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. We felt the love.

The Western Skylarks will be performing at our Grand Opening party this Saturday from 1:30 – 3:00! You can also catch them this Thursday, February 18, 2010 at The Crepe Place with The Juncos, Tippy Canoe and Tiki King.

We are feeling very offical now that our sign is up. Big thanks to our Harvey West neighbor RCR Fabrication for cutting the letters (and answering coutless questions about how we should attach them), and to Craig at Koala Tree Care for providing his 70ft bucket truck ( 2man ) to get it hung. Just in time for our Grand Opening party this Saturday from 1- 3 PM.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the “Making a Record” workshop at Gadgetbox Recording Studios (the event was co-sponsored by SCRS). In addition to getting to meet some amazing musicians, I learned a lot about the reality of the recording process. I thought I would share some of my favorite gems with you.

Make sure the band is ready and well rehearsed before you book time in the studio.

Having guest artists on your records is a great way to not only enhance an album, but give you other avenues to market the record in once it is released. For example, your guest artist(s) might already have a large fan base that will be interested in your CD because of their involvement.

Not all of your songs need to be on the album. There are so many opportunities to use songs not on the album for digital download, digital bonus tracks, giveaway, etc.

It might be better to do a 3 song record, 3 times a year, rather than a full length record once every 2 years. It can be the same time and $$ in the studio, but the first option gives you a lot more fresh content to market to your fans.

Listen to your final mix for at least 2 weeks before mastering.

Master your CD outside of the studio it was recorded in (this will allow a last set of fresh ears on the project before it is complete).

Most new artists press 1,000 discs in their first run. Popular duplication companies include Disc Makers and Oasis.

At least 3 months (but the farther out the better) before your CD is ready to be mastered, you should be thinking about what you are going to do when you get it.

Prepare your digital release well in advance of your CD release (it can take 6-8 weeks for digital tracks to be uploaded to iTunes, Amazon, etc.).

Having the final CD is only the very first step, doing it justice in the world is another major journey, and another workshop.

Our T-Shirts are now available for sale if anyone is interested. Local price is $15 or $20 if you want us to ship to you. Currently we only have men’s sizes Large and X-Large in both American Apparel and Hanes brand (navy shirt with lighter blue SCRS logo). Email us (jenn@santacruzrehearsalstudios.com) if you want to order outside of Santa Cruz (we can do credit card orders over the phone).

Mon-Fri from 10AM – 6 PM this room is available for students with or without instructors for $ 8 per hour (no minimum time requirement). We also have a full drum set available to rent for an extra $ 2 per hour. Mention “Instructor Promotion” when you call or email to book.